Beachgiving- Vanlife Thanksgiving on the Beach

December 20, 2019December 20, 2019

Beachgiving- Vanlife Thanksgiving on the Beach

2019 has been a year of new experiences, being in new places and having new stories to tell. So to keep with the idea of new, we celebrated Thanksgiving on a beach in Florida. This is a first for both of us, but hey, 2019 has been all about firsts!

However, I can only handle so much newness, so the meal will be traditional.

The Menu

Turkey
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Bacon Wrapped Green Beans
Sweet Potato Casserole
Pumpkin Pie

Shopping List

Turkey for two
Butter
Onion
Celery
Carrots
Potatoes
Sour cream
Milk
Gluten free gravy mix
Bacon
Green Beans
Brown Sugar
Sweet Potatoes
Pecans
Gluten free pie crust
Canned Pumpkin
Pumpkin Pie Spice
Eggs
Heavy Whipping Cream

To be proactive and not cook everything on Thursday, I made the Pumpkin Pie Wednesday evening. I love our new Camp Chef oven! Not wanting to try pie dough in the bus, I did something very out of the ordinary. I bought a pie crust, shh, don’t tell my mom! Wal-Mart had a ready made gluten free crust and it tasted just fine. Not homemade, but still good.

Thursday morning was beautiful, the sun was shining and we watched dolphins swim next to a ship while we drank our morning coffee. Turkey prep began. Turkey is in the oven, cooking and smelling wonderful. Next step, sweet potatoes. While the water is heating up I step outside. When I come back in there is an odd smell and I look and look. Then I notice the water isn’t boiling and it should be by now. Then I notice there is no blue flame. Discussion begins and we realize the last time the propane was changed was in Nova Scotia, in August. Good news, the Camp Chef is way more efficient than the traditional Coleman. Bad news, it’s Thanksgiving, I have ingredients everywhere and neither of us want to move the bus to search for propane, on Thanksgiving. So, the trusty Coleman is pulled out of the back and put back into commission. It came in clutch, everything in our Thanksgiving feast, except the Pumpkin Pie, was made on the Coleman camp stove!

The turkey was cooked in the cast iron. Mashed potatoes and gravy were always a stove top item. Instead of baking the bacon wrapped green beans, they were cooked with the lid on. It ended up caramelizing the butter/brown sugar mixture much better than the oven ever has. Then the sweet potatoes were mixed and cooked on the stove top. We still wanted the marshmallows to be browned, so out came the MSR Pocket Rocket. We used it like a creme brûlée torch and it worked!

The picnic table was set and we feasted!

Pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream for desert was the best way to round out this Turkey Day.

After stuffing ourselves we took a leisurely stroll down the beach. We spotted several types of birds, saw a few fish jump and then watched as two dolphins played. Sharing Thanksgiving together was a special day and one that we won’t forget!

May 29, 2018June 5, 2018

Let’s Talk Coffee- Our Favorite Coffee While Traveling Across the Country

We have been drinking Rose Rock Coffee since before we started traveling in April and we are fans! They offer some really unique things that we look for in a coffee company whether we are on the road or back in Oklahoma:

Rose Rock is Local

One of our favorite aspects about Rose Rock is that their beans are roasted in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. We have had a cup of Rose Rock in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and California and the summer hasn’t really started yet. We enjoy drinking Oklahoma coffee in these beautiful places because we aren’t supporting a multi-billion-dollar corporation in Seattle, we are supporting a small-business in a town that we called home for nearly a decade.

Their roasting location is 2199 W Choctaw Street, Tahlequah, OK 74464, across from the City of Tahlequah Golf Course.

Rose Rock Sells Coffee Online

While this is not a ground-breaking offering for most folks reading this in major cities, in rural Oklahoma, finding a business that will sell you a product online, in-store, and ship it to you is hard to find. We love that we can be on the rim of the Grand Canyon or on the beach in San Diego and order our coffee from anywhere. It is delivered quickly and is always well-packaged and in good shape when it arrives.

To check out their product offerings, cruise over to Rose Rock Coffee and place an order. Our personal favorites are the Scissortail and Chocolate Gravy roasts. Plus, their vintage campfire mug is perfect and travels in our bus everywhere we go.

Rose Rock Coffee is High-Quality

We are not coffee snobs by any stretch, but we can spot a bad cup of coffee a mile away. Rose Rock uses top-notch beans and the difference is clear right away. As soon as we start grinding and pouring the first cup with the sun peaking over the mountains, we can feel, smell, and taste the difference and we think you will too.

Rose Rock Coffee is Affordable

As frugal travelers, we simply cannot afford to travel to the places that we do and still buy $5 cups of coffee. You can buy a whole bag of Rose Rock for that much! It really is a great deal on great coffee.

We really do love working with Rose Rock and we enjoy getting to try new roasts and reporting back to you what we liked and what didn’t work as well for our tastes. Be on the lookout for tasting notes from us in the very near future.

To check out what Rose Rock is up to, head over to their website at Rose Rock Coffee or follow them on Instagram and Facebook. If you have a cup of Rose Rock and like what you taste, take a picture of your cup and tag #okiecoffee.

It should be noted that we have a working relationship with the coffee roaster that we are promoting, but we would never push a product that we don’t use and enjoy every day.

November 5, 2017

Gluten Free: 5 Tips for Eating GF on a Road Trip

One of our biggest challenges on road trips is eating healthy and gluten free. Rachael has a gluten intolerance that makes digesting wheat a truly miserable experience for both of us, but mostly her. I can eat Gluten, but my digestion is greatly improved when I kick wheat out of my diet. So how do we do it? We travel all over the country staying in campgrounds, Air BnB’s and backcountry campgrounds in the middle of nowhere and we always have to eat.

Below are some tips that will help you eat Gluten Free on the road or in the woods:

Use Gluten Free Apps- There are countless apps that are available for free or cheap on Android and iOS that will point you in the direction of GF restaurants in your area. The app we use most is Find Me Gluten Free. It has over 100,000 downloads from the Google Play Store and it has been very accurate for us. Simply type in the location that you are searching and navigate the list or map for results. Be advised that in very large cities like, the results can be overwhelming; try zooming in to your neighborhood or street for accurate results.
Embrace the Art of Cooking- If you are new to a Gluten Free lifestyle, you will need to embrace the fact that you will need to learn how to cook. Eating out is not only less healthy, but it is extremely expensive. It is especially expensive when you are on a road trip budget. Before we get setup at any campsite or take off on any trip into the backcountry, we create a menu and meal prep. Keep an eye out as we will be posting Gluten Free recipes very soon on the blog.
Shop Before You Leave- If you know that your regular grocery store stocks GF bread and all of the ingredients that you will need to make your favorite camp dish, don’t wait until you get to Pond Creek, OK to see if the 7-Eleven attendant has any idea what Gluten is. Plan your meals ahead of your departure and buy your potentially hard to find items before you embark.
Pack Snacks- Not only is eating small meals throughout the day a healthy choice, but it gives you some flexibility when it comes to eating Gluten Free in unfamiliar places. By packing a snack such as fruits, vegetables, or trail mix, you give yourself a back-up plan in case you can’t find a meal on the road. On our most recent trip to Canada, we flew with a 5LB bag of Kar’s Trail Mix and ate it over the course of two weeks in the Great White North; we didn’t have to worry about getting glutened by a mystery trail mix in Yoho National Park. To see more from that trip, check out our post about the start of that trip here.
Take Your Time & Stay Longer- In my limited time traveling and living with a person that has a gluten intolerance, I have found that the less rushed we are and the longer we stay in a particular area, the more likely we are to find quality Gluten Free offerings and the more accommodating grocery stores in an area. Conversely, the more that we rush while traveling or in our day-to-day, the more we slip up on eating well.

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Category: Food